PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical feasibility, safety, and oncological outcomes of transumbilical single-incision laparoscopic surgery in patients with an uncomplicated appendiceal mucocele.
METHODS
A review of a prospectively collected database at the Kyungpook National University Hospital from January 2006 to September 2010… (More)

BACKGROUND
The transforaminal (TF) epidural steroid injection (ESI) is suggested as more effective than the interlaminar (IL) route due to higher delivery of medication at the anterior epidural space. However, serious complications such as spinal cord injury and permanent neural injury have been reported. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare… (More)

Fabry disease is an X-linked lysosomal disease caused by deficiency of α-galactosidase, in which early diagnosis may be missed due to the wide variety of clinical symptoms presenting during disease progression. A 13 year-old boy visited our pain clinic complaining of pricking and burning pain in the toe tips of both feet. Continuous epidural infusion for… (More)

Although intrathecal orexin-A has been known to be antinociceptive in various pain models, the role of orexin-A in antinociception is not well characterized. In the present study, we examined whether orexin-A modulates primary afferent fiber-mediated or spontaneous excitatory synaptic transmission using transverse spinal cord slices with attached dorsal… (More)

PURPOSE
A few studies have prospectively evaluated changes in quality of life (QoL) after surgery in short-term survivors; however, no prospective study has evaluated the longitudinal changes in QoL in long-terms survivors. We prospectively evaluated the chronological changes in QoL after a gastrectomy over a 5-year postoperative period in a large group of… (More)

BACKGROUND
Thoracic epidural anesthesia is frequently used to maintain intraoperative and postoperative analgesia. Frequently, 3 ml of local anesthetic is used as a test dose, or for intermittent epidural injection. We assessed the extent of the spread of 3 ml of contrast medium in the thoracic epidural space and attempted to identify any correlating… (More)

Purpose
We evaluated the impact of postoperative body mass index (BMI) shifts on the quality of life (QoL) following total gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer.
Methods and Methods
QoL data collected from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 and QLQ-STO22 questionnaires were obtained from 417 patients… (More)

Neuropeptides orexin-A and -B are related to the regulation of sleep/wakefulness and feeding behaviors. Recently, the peptides have also been shown to yield antinociceptive effects in various pain models. However, it is not clear whether orexins are involved in forms of synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression… (More)